Happy Reading

Saturday morning, Hotel restaurant

"Ari, would you please sit down and behave?" John asked exasperated as he watched his daughter bouncing in her chair. "Anyway, I think if we leave in an hour it'll give us plenty of time to get to the next city."

"Even with your lousy driving we should make good time." Randy agreed. He suppressed a smile as Ari tugged on John's sleeve to get his attention.

"Daddy can I go sit with Ashley and Trish?"

"Not right now." He answered absently. "We'll be leaving soon."

"But you just said we weren't leaving for a whole hour." She argued.

"But in that hour you have to eat breakfast and, if I remember correctly, you still have clothes all over the floor upstairs." John stated raising his eyebrows.

"Can I just go over and say hi? Just for like five minutes?" She pleaded.

"No." John said.

"Hey midget. What do you want for breakfast?" Randy asked a little desperately, not wanting to get stuck between the arguing father and daughter.

"I'm not hungry." She answered sullenly.

John rolled his eyes. "We're not stopping on the way to the next city." He warned.

She jerked her shoulder in response.

Sighing John turned back to Randy. "What's up with your wrist? I saw you favoring it this morning when we worked out."

The younger man shrugged as he tucked his hand under the table. "It popped on me yesterday when I went to do a bench lift." He offered a convincing smile. "It's been sore since and I didn't want to aggravate it."

John frowned thinking of the swelling he had noticed. "Have you had the trainers look at it?"

"Nah, its fine." Randy shook the question off, turning to greet the waitress who came to take their order.

Absentmindly John ordered his breakfast, adding another plate for his sulking daughter.

"Daddy, can I have a coke?" She spoke up now.

"No, juice or water." He answered.

"Orange juice please." She told the waitress, pouting as she shifted restlessly in her chair.

"You really should get it checked out. An injury wouldn't be a good thing right now." John continued their earlier conversation.

"It's fine." Randy answered, looking around as if for an escape.

"Daddy can I…."

"Ari, if I have to tell you no one more time you can't watch TV for a week." John warned her half serious.

"Umm, very stern and authoritative. Kind of turned me on." A female voice murmured as she bent between the two wrestlers.

Ari giggled as Randy started choking on his water. "Was that necessary?" He demanded.

Journey pursed her lips as she pretended to think about it. "Yeah." She answered smiling evilly.

Ignoring the taunting John smiled at his girlfriend. "I though you weren't coming."

She shrugged as she threaded her fingers through his. "I didn't want to stay by myself this weekend."

"Ghosts and goblins and monsters, oh my." Randy muttered under his breath.

Journey turned to glare at him. "It just so happens that I was worried about Dave. I talked to him on the phone last night and he didn't sound right."

Randy frowned at the accusation in her voice. "Are you saying I'm not worried?"

Journey shrugged restlessly. "I just think you haven't done anything to make it easy for him."

"He kidnapped Jayden." John supplied.

Journey turned to her boyfriend with a look of horror on her face. "He did what?"

"Damn it John." Randy groaned. "I'm trying to keep that fact quiet. I don't really want to die this weekend."

"Then why'd you do it?" Journey asked unable to overcome the shock.

"I just wanted to talk to her." He paused while their breakfast was set down in front of them. "I ended up liking her."

"Liking who?" A deep voice rumbled behind him.

Randy tried not to wince as he greeted Dave. "Jayden. I ran into her yesterday while she was here." He answered, opting for a half-truth.

Dave raised his eyebrows as he sat down. "I didn't think you too would get along?"

"You must have thought that because of all the bad stuff you told her about me." The younger man responded throwing out his cocky attitude.

"Just told her the truth. Not my fault if it was all bad." Dave retorted. He turned to smile at Journey. "You didn't say you were coming up."

"I was worried about you. You didn't sound half as mean as you usually do when I talked to you last night." She responded with an innocent face.

Dave tried to stop the smile as he narrowed his eyes at her. Turning he asked Randy. "I'm not mean all the time am I."

Randy stared at him in amusement. "You aren't seriously asking me that question are you?"

The big man rolled his eyes before he turned to his next target. "Ari, do you think I'm mean?"

She shot a glance at her father. "Not as mean as Daddy."

John patted her on the head rather hard. "You'll have to excuse her. She got up on the wrong side of the bed."

"Daddy." She protested laughing as she ducked away from his hand.

"What do you think Shawn? Should we interrupt?" Mark asked in an amused voice as they walked up to the table.

"I don't know. They're all sitting at a table together and no one's yelling." The shorter man joked.

"I'll be happy to fix that for you." Dave said sending them an evil smile. Randy tried to cover a laugh at the comment.

"Oh no. Everybody run. Dave's going to get mean." Shawn mocked in a high voice, holding his hands up in front of him.

Dave narrowed his eyes as the occupants of nearby tables turned to look. "You want to eat breakfast or wear it?" Dave asked in a pleasant voice.

"Now now children. Behave. We're in a public place." Randy admonished as he tried to keep a straight face. The entire table burst out laughing at the look Dave sent Randy.

Mark shook his head at the pair as he slipped into a seat next to Ari. "What's with the pouting, baby face?"

Ari shrugged. "I'm just listening. I know a lot of secrets now." She said importantly.

"It's not good to tell other people's secrets." John warned his daughter.

"But you told Journey Randy's secret." She pointed out smugly.

Mark looked on amused as John groaned and Randy straighten up in his seat. "What secret was that?" The big man asked.

Ari glanced over at her father before motioning Mark down close, where she whispered in his ear.

"I'm going to kill your daughter." Randy warned John as he gritted his teeth.

"You're welcome to her." John answered as he watched Marks's head whip up.

Dave and Shawn exchanged looks at the speculative gleam in the big man's eye. Journey groaned and dropped her head into her hands.

"Randy." Mark started. "Have you had a chance to talk to Jayden much?"

Scrowling Randy answered. "I've met her."

"Did you have an interesting conversation?"" Mark asked barely containing his laughter.

"Damn it." Swearing Randy turned to face Dave. "I lured Jayden into my car last night and wouldn't let her out until she answered my questions. I lied to her about where you were and…." He trailed off as he studied the older man's face. "You already knew."

Dave smiled. "When are you going to learn that I always know?" He asked in amusement.

"How?" John asked puzzled.

"We're older and we know more than you." Mark informed him in a superior way causing John to roll his eyes.

"How did you know Randy kidnapped her?" He asked again.

Dave shrugged. "I wasn't satisfied with the explanation she gave me so I called her back."

"She said she wouldn't tell." Randy pouted. He watched the other man closely. "You aren't mad." He observed.

The older man smiled. "You didn't do anything the rest of us wouldn't do."

"You actually beat me to it." Mark said from the other end of the table.

Their conversation died away as Adam slammed into the restaurant and made a beeline for their table.

"Well well. Looks like everyone's here. Makes it so much easier for me." The tall blonde said almost pleasantly as he leaned over the table. Journey winced as his hand circled the back of her neck.

"Get your fucking hands off her." John growled as he jumped up. Mark and Dave pushed out of their chairs as well.

"What's the matter John? She too good to be passed around." Adam purred as he bent down to blow in her ear.

Before John could explode Dave grabbed a handful of blonde hair and jerked the amused face up until it was inches from his own. "You need to remember that she isn't only John's." He murmured menacingly. Journey slipped out of her chair to stand with Ari behind the combined forces of John and Mark.

"Actually" Adam said as he eased out of the big man's grip. "I have a problem with another one of yours." He looked pointedly at Randy. "Guess you can't keep tabs on your boy."

Dave frowned at the comment. "Randy's a big boy and can do what he wants. I'm not his keeper."

Adam flashed a smile. "Yeah and everyone in the locker room believes that too."

Randy stayed sprawled in his chair, an amused look on his face. "You have a problem with me, you take it up with me. No reason to involve anyone else."

Adam sneered. "You didn't keep it between the two of us, so all's fair." He leaned on the table. "I'm patient. It might take a day, it might take a month but I will come after you." He looked around at the gathered group. "Or someone you're close too."

John waited until Adam had walked off before he turned on Randy. "What was that about?" He asked, his pent up anger exploding on his friend.

"Apparently someone put itching powder in the sheets of his hotel room last night. When he and Lita went to get into bed it covered them from head to toe." Randy answered lazily, giving the appearance that the looks he was receiving didn't bother him.

"That's not too bad." Shawn injected reasonably.

""No but they got in the shower to rinse it off and someone" he put emphasis on the word. "had filled their body wash with some kind of aftershave that burned on impact."

He shrugged. "Still not that bad but the combination got in Lita's eyes and she had to go to the hospital last night."

"Did you do it?" Mark demanded as he remained standing with his arms crossed.

"No." Randy answered simply. His eyes cut to another person at the table. "But I knew about it and maybe I should have stopped it."

"Ah fuck." John cursed as he realized what Randy meant. Grabbing his daughters arm he dragged her out of the room.

"I don't understand why we can't have one simple meal where nothing happens." Journey complained as she dropped back into her chair. She gazed after John thoughtfully before turning to look at Randy. "You're awful calm about this." She observed.

He smiled at her. "I'm trying to be more mature, act my age."

"Unhuh, how's that working out for you?" She asked sarcastically. "You can't tell me that given the chance you wouldn't have pulled that prank."

"I would have loved to but I didn't. That's the difference." He smirked in her direction, losing his smile as Dave shoved away from the table and stalked off.

"Hell, is he mad a me again?" Randy asked looking at the others in bewilderment. His shoulders slumped as he watched Dave walk away.